J. Mater. Sci. Technol. ›› 2020, Vol. 55: 56-72.DOI: 10.1016/j.jmst.2019.09.037

• Invited Review • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Recent progress of flexible sulfur cathode based on carbon host for lithium-sulfur batteries

Zhuosen Wanga, Xijun Xua, Shaomin Jib,*(), Zhengbo Liua, Dechao Zhanga, Jiadong Shena, Jun Liua,*()   

  1. a Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Energy Storage Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510641, China
    b School of Chemical Engineering and Light Industry, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China
  • Received:2019-04-30 Accepted:2019-09-05 Published:2020-10-15 Online:2020-10-27
  • Contact: Shaomin Ji,Jun Liu
  • About author:Zhuosen Wang received his master degree in South China Normal University (SCNU). He is currently a third-year Ph.D. student under the supervision of Prof. Jun Liu at South China University of Technology (SCUT). His research interests focus on lithium-sulfur cathode materials.|Xijun Xu received his Ph.D. from South China University of Technology in 2019. Dr. Xu has deeply researched the mechanism of charge/discharge process of Fe-based cath-ode/anode materials for alkaline (Li/Na/K)-ion batteries. His current research interests are organic cathode mate-rials and metal-selenide anode materials.|Shaomin Ji received Ph.D. degree in Applied Chem-istry from Dalian University of Technology in 2011. Sheworked as postdoctoral research fellow at Universityof Melbourne (Australia) and University of Regensburg(Germany), and is currently Professor at the GuangdongUniversity of Technology. Her current research topics arefocused on fluorescent molecular probes and luminescentmaterials, organic photoelectric materials, organic elec-trode/electrolyte materials for rechargeable batteries.|Zhengbo Liu received his bachelor degree in Central South University in 2016. He is currently a Ph.D. student under the supervision of Prof. Jun Liu at South China University of Technology (SCUT). His research interests are cathode materials for sodium-ion batteries.|Dechao Zhang received his Master’s degree in Yanshan University (Qinhuangdao, Hebei) in 2018. He is currently a Ph.D. student under the supervision of Prof. Jun Liu at South China University of Technology (SCUT). His research interests focus on solid electrolytes and all-solid-state bat-teries.|Jiadong Shen got his bachelor degree in South China Nor-mal University (SCNU). He is a first-year Ph.D. student in South China University of Technology (SCUT). His research interests are metal (Li/Na)-sulfur batteries and ab-initio calculations for the electro-catalysis materials (Castep, VASP, CP2K and LAMMPS).|Jun Liu is a Professor in South China University of Technol-ogy (SCUT). He received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering and Technology at Dalian University of Technology in 2011. From 2012 to 2013, he worked as an Alfred Deakin Postdoctoral fellow at Deakin University, Australia. After that he moved to Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart, Germany, worked as a postdoc-toral fellow. His current research interests mainly include high-energy density Li/Na-ion batteries, all-solid-state batteries, Li-S batteries and novel energy storage devices.

Abstract:

With the emergence and development of wearable devices, the novel energy storage systems with flexible feature and high energy density are urgently needed. As we all know, for next generation high energy-storage systems, lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries with a high theoretical capacity are regarded as one of the most promising candidates. In addition, the flexible Li-S batteries have received more and more attention. The determined factor in the flexible Li-S batteries is how to design the foldable electrodes including both anode and cathode. As for the flexible sulfur cathode, it could be obtained by integrating the electroactive sulfur with a flexible substrate, generally. In recent years, the flexible cathode of Li-S batteries have made considerable progress, however there are also many huge challenges needing to overcome, such as low content of sulfur, fast decrease of capacity and short cycle life. In this paper, the current develop status of flexible cathodes of Li-S batteries have been summarized, and the future trend also be pointed out.

Key words: Li-S batteries, Sulfur cathode, Recent progress, High energy density, Flexible devices